The Neopian Times Editorial Thread

[Bat]

I find it really strange that this week comes with kind of a defensive disclaimer about how there are SO many questions and there’s no WAY all could be answered or whatever because while definitely true, why then have they been averaging like 4 per week for over a month?

Maybe it's because we called them out for their terrible editorial cherry-picking in our live stream last week. We specifically said that they avoid tough questions and focus on butt-kissing ones. Seems a bit suspicious that they'd suddenly feel inclined to justify that!

[TsUNaMy WaVe]

This editorial actually makes me kind of optimistic.
Also if there's gonna be a fan-made avatar contest I'm participating for sure

[Flordibel]

I find it really strange that this week comes with kind of a defensive disclaimer about how there are SO many questions and there’s no WAY all could be answered or whatever because while definitely true, why then have they been averaging like 4 per week for over a month? I can see this being a response to people asking why their questions haven’t been answered, but if there’s an influx of people mentioning that it’s 100% because they’ve made it seem like new questions are rare. By answering like 4 at a time. Several of them from months ago.

They had a board up on the mobile-friendly beta forum for about 2 weeks and people were submitting questions until the very last day! This issue was specifically for beta questions, which is probably why it was actually full.

[Extraterrestrial]

This was so good.

Is it Scrappy that usually does the editorial? Gutterfoot and van Doodle did so much better this week answering things that actually mattered.

[Nyanobyte]

Next ones out!

Are you going to extend CSS3 to petpages as well? There's some features such as media queries (being able to change the css depending on the width of the screen) that I'd love to be able to use on petpages. I try to make my petpages mobile friendly too, but it's hard without all the css tools that are out there! Thank you! ~~june_scarlet
That's my plan! I'm a frontend developer who lives on CSS3, so when I tried to customise a petpage the other day, it was a nightmare. There may be the odd exception that we can't add for security reasons, but I'm right there with you! When we bring these features in to petpages and make the layouts responsive for user lookups and pet lookups, existing custom code by users will probably break. We hope you'll be excited to flex your skills with the new tools available to revamp your lookups when the time comes! ~~van Doodle

Why are dailies/parts of the website that are not flash-based being converted first? We can still use the Classic layout for most things that don't require flash. Meanwhile, things with Flash show no signs of being updated - most of the maps and some Dailies (e.g. Kiko Pop, Coconut Shy, Test Your Strength, Bagatelle, Cork Gun Gallery, all the Wheels, etc). It makes it seem that that moving away from flash is not a priority for TNT (and this in turn creates a lot of user anxiety). An explanation will help allay concerns, so please tell us, what is the reason for this approach? ~~stargirl090
I will admit that we definitely overestimated how long it would take to convert each page within our team. The original goal was to convert dailies based on popularity to ensure that the most used ones were converted into the mobile-friendly layout. We've sinced changed our direction and are prioritizing flash pages, as you've mentioned, to make sure important flash-based features are converted in time. ~~gutterfoot

ICan you give us some examples of things you've done/changed because of feedback from users? I know there's plenty of time for things to change but I guess I'm just not confident anything major will change.
The upcoming release includes lots of changes based on user feedback. I'm particulary happy that a user pointed out to us that the Bank Manager didn't greet users properly who had selected "other" as their preferred gender. We're also increasing the maximum number of pets visible on the homepage for wider screens. There are still fixes to things like the Neoboards I'd like to get to sooner rather than later. ~~van Doodle
We're going to be noting these user suggested changes in our release notes going forward! Thanks for the suggestion. ~~gutterfoot

Hi Gutterfoot and the rest of dev team! How will the BD layout be changing on the mobile-friendly version? ~~t0tor0
Great question! We have definitely heard many concerns and requests over the years about Battledome and we are definitely taking the time to make sure it's an improvement. This means it won't be done by the end of the year, but since Battledome isn't flash there's no concerns of losing it before we make the improvements. ~~gutterfoot

Will the conversion of the SDB be just that, or are you planning on overhauling it completely and introduce new features based on users suggestions too? How about an ability to search the SDB by quantity or rarity? ~~sleepyholler
That feature is actually being designed right now! It's not final yet, but we are looking to add in rarity and quantity sorting options. ~~van Doodle

Will we get an outbox in the mobile version? ~~longuylandgirl
Yes! It's desperately needed, but there are still questions of the best way for us to support an outbox on the backend. ~~van Doodle
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Like Van Doodle said, there are some things our backend team has to figure out, but it's definitely a feature that we agree is absolutely necessary. ~~gutterfoot

Will the site themes we've unlocked through playing Neopets all these years go away with the conversion to the mobile version of the site? I will miss seeing the Werelupe King at the bottom of the page when using the Halloween theme. ~~valleypark
We're bringing all of the existing themes (plus some news ones eventually!) over to mobile, so don't worry! They may look different than the ones you're used to, but we hope you like them. ~~gutterfoot

Yooyuball and next year's Altador Cup, what is the current plan for these? Can we expect the same Yooyuball game to be transferred to mobile or a new and improved one? ~~ummagine3284
We've actually converted most of the Altador Cup games already, thinking we might have them done in time for this past years' event. Yooyuball is the only one remaining to finish. It'll will be the same Yooyuball game we all know and love! No major changes, unless they are small polish tweaks. ~~gutterfoot

I'm curious how some of the games will be converted to become mobile friendly, specifically how the controls will change. Will it be like an on-screen control board sort of setup, or smth like that? ~~thedarkestwocky
At the moment, we're taking it one game at a time. You can see a few examples in the beta gamesroom right now! ~~van Doodle
We'd like to avoid an on-screen control board as much as possible. If there is a game with more extensive controls that is best played on desktop, we'll probably recommend it to be played that way instead of on mobile. ~~gutterfoot

What is the progress on allowing score submissions on converted games? ~~astrangespirit
In our next release (V0.3.2 - comin' at you soon!), we are going to have score submission turned back on for a couple of days. This will give our team some time to review the data and make sure that everything is working smoothly with our updated system before we push it out permanently. Fingers crossed! ~~gutterfoot

Will current art be kept when converting maps? Mystery Island changing is understandable since the art was so outdated, but other maps already have beautiful artwork (Faerieland, Krawk Island) and I wonder if it's really necessary to change the art? Granted, I don't understand how converting maps works, but I love some of the current art and don't want it gone.
Great question. We've actually gone back and forth on this. We've decided that, in order to get as many maps converted as quickly as possible, we'll only be updating the art for the most visually outdated maps over time. ~~van Doodle

I wanted to ask if there was any way a system where we can VOLUNTARILY watch ads for Neocash could be implemented? The ads all around the site are just intrusive and end up being blocked anyway. If one would receive a small reward for each ad, one would be more inclined to watch. I would GLADLY watch ads all day for that and so would others! ~~1jediboy
Yes, we will be implementing ad rewards! The current plan is to not have any of those intrusive ads on mobile (but they'll be on desktop eventually). ~~gutterfoot

[Autobot]

This is... actually pretty comprehensive compared to some editorials in the past, ngl. Hope the trend continues and that the things discussed here are really implemented rather than just remaining pipe dreams.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to what happens to Neo in 2021. Usually it's just anxiety over the possibility of the site imploding on itself since things are so outdated with their processes and... well everything. I'm glad they're tackling these questions, now I'm kind of hoping they can shed some light on situations regarding their ticket system :thinking:

[My name is Yoshikage Kira]

Will we get an outbox in the mobile version? ~~longuylandgirl
Yes! It's desperately needed, but there are still questions of the best way for us to support an outbox on the backend. ~~van Doodle
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Like Van Doodle said, there are some things our backend team has to figure out, but it's definitely a feature that we agree is absolutely necessary. ~~gutterfoot

Bless Gutterfoot

[Flordibel]

I would like gutterfoot and Van Doodle to take over The Neopian Times Editorial permanently pls?

I really like that they don't dance around answering questions - they're direct and to the point!

[♥ lagrima ♥]

Ad rewards? Sounds interesting, I wonder how that'll work

[Flordibel]

Ad rewards? Sounds interesting, I wonder how that'll work

Yeah! They have it in Island Builders and they had it in Legends & Letters - basically, you watch a 30-second ad, then you get a free spin of a wheel that gives you resources (Island Builders) or a free fighter unit (L&L). I believe they used to have this on Neo, too, way back when they had advertising partners. I used to take my pets to the movie theater and get the free food.